Composite structural article

ABSTRACT

A composite structural article includes a polymeric body having a first major surface and an opposing second major surface. The composite structure includes a continuous fiber element extending along and embedded within the lateral length of a rib element and/or an open mesh woven element embedded within and coplanar a textured surface of the first major surface or the opposing second major surface.

RELATED APPLICATION

The present application is a continuation application of InternationalApplication No. PCT/US2014/048048, titled COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL ARTICLE,filed on Jul. 24, 2014, which claims the benefit under 35 U.S.C. §119(e)of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 61/857,806, filed on Jul. 24,2013, and titled COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL ARTICLE, both of which are herebyincorporated by reference in their entirety.

BACKGROUND

The physical properties of thermoplastic polymers can be improved by theincorporation of filler materials such as glass fibers. Theincorporation of glass fibers into polymeric products beneficiallyaffects resin properties such as tensile strength, stiffness,dimensional stability and resistance to creep and thermal expansion.Traditional methods of producing such articles have been injectionmolding or compression molding standard, pre-compounded fiberglass-filled polymer. While satisfying certain objectives in optimizingthe quality of the finished product, conventional filled products haveproven to be commercially costly and in other ways have fallen short oftheir objectives in terms of weight, impact performance and strength.Improvements to producing fiber-reinforced articles are desired.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates to composite structural articles and inparticular to composite structural articles that includes a continuousfiber tension element and/or open mesh woven element. The continuousfiber tension element and/or open mesh woven element can improve thestructure properties while reducing the weight and/or cost of thecomposite structural article.

In one aspect, a composite structural article includes a polymeric bodyhaving a first major surface and an opposing second major surface, and aplurality of fibers forming a fiber dispersion within the polymericbody. The fibers have an average length of less than 15 mm and anaverage diameter of less than 50 micrometers. A laterally extending ribelement extends away from the second major surface and has a laterallength forming a portion of the polymeric body. A continuous fiberelement extends along and is embedded within the lateral length of therib element. The continuous fiber element includes a plurality ofparallel and co-extending continuous fibers and a resin.

In another aspect, a composite structural article includes a polymericbody having a first major surface and an opposing second major surface.The second major surface is a textured surface. An open mesh wovenelement is embedded within and coplanar the textured surface.

In a further aspect, composite structural articles described herein areformed by injection molding or compression molding.

These and various other features and advantages will be apparent from areading of the following detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The disclosure may be more completely understood in consideration of thefollowing detailed description of various embodiments of the disclosurein connection with the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram view of an illustrativecomposite structural article including both tension and impact members;

FIG. 2 is a top schematic diagram perspective view of an illustrativecomposite structural article including impact members;

FIG. 3 is a bottom schematic diagram perspective view of an illustrativecomposite structural article including tension members;

FIG. 4 is a top schematic diagram view of an illustrative curvedcomposite structural article including impact members;

FIG. 5 is a front schematic diagram view of the illustrative curvedcomposite structural article of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram view of the illustrativecurved composite structural article of FIG. 4 taken along line 6-6; and

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a container formed of compositestructural articles including both tension and impact members.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following detailed description, reference is made to theaccompanying drawings that form a part hereof, and in which are shown byway of illustration several specific embodiments. It is to be understoodthat other embodiments are contemplated and may be made withoutdeparting from the scope or spirit of the present disclosure. Thefollowing detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in alimiting sense.

All scientific and technical terms used herein have meanings commonlyused in the art unless otherwise specified. The definitions providedherein are to facilitate understanding of certain terms used frequentlyherein and are not meant to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

Unless otherwise indicated, all numbers expressing feature sizes,amounts, and physical properties used in the specification and claimsare to be understood as being modified in all instances by the term“about.” Accordingly, unless indicated to the contrary, the numericalparameters set forth in the foregoing specification and attached claimsare approximations that can vary depending upon the properties sought tobe obtained by those skilled in the art utilizing the teachingsdisclosed herein.

The recitation of numerical ranges by endpoints includes all numberssubsumed within that range (e.g. 1 to 5 includes 1, 1.5, 2, 2.75, 3,3.80, 4, and 5) and any range within that range.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the singularforms “a”, “an”, and “the” encompass embodiments having pluralreferents, unless the content clearly dictates otherwise.

As used in this specification and the appended claims, the term “or” isgenerally employed in its sense including “and/or” unless the contentclearly dictates otherwise.

As used herein, “have”, “having”, “include”, “including”, “comprise”,“comprising” or the like are used in their open ended sense, andgenerally mean “including, but not limited to”. It will be understoodthat “consisting essentially of”, “consisting of”, and the like aresubsumed in “comprising,” and the like.

It should be noted that “top” and “bottom” (or other terms like “upper”and “lower” or “first” and “second”) are utilized strictly for relativedescriptions and do not imply any overall orientation of the article inwhich the described element is located.

The present disclosure relates to a composite structural article and inparticular to composite structural articles that includes a continuousfiber tension element and/or open mesh woven impact element. In manyembodiments the composite structural article includes a fiberdispersion. The continuous fiber tension element and/or open mesh wovenimpact element can improve the structure properties while reducing theweight and/or cost of the composite structural article. The continuousfiber members can provide tensile strength to the polymeric body. Thecontinuous fiber members can be placed strategically within thepolymeric body to provide tensile strength where it is needed within thepolymeric body. The continuous fiber members can be embedded inlaterally extending rib elements forming a portion of the polymeric bodyof the composite structural article, preferably distal end portions ofthe rib elements. In many embodiments an open mesh woven element isembedded within the polymeric body. The open mesh woven element canprovide impact strength to the polymeric body. The open mesh wovenelement can be placed strategically within the polymeric body to provideimpact strength where it is needed within the polymeric body. The openmesh woven element can be embedded in a textured surface of thepolymeric body. In some embodiments, warping of the solid body ismitigated by utilizing both the continuous fiber members and/or the openmesh woven element. These composite structural articles can be formed oflightweight polymer materials. These composite structural articlespossess a high strength, stiffness, and high impact resistant with areduced weight as compared to conventional structural members. While thepresent disclosure is not so limited, an appreciation of various aspectsof the disclosure will be gained through a discussion of the examplesprovided below.

The composite structural article described herein can be formed byinjection molding, transfer molding or compression molding. Preferablythe composite structural article described herein can be formed byinjection molding. Surprising large planar composite structural articleshave been formed that resist warping or shrinkage due to the tension andimpact members described below. The composite structural articledescribed herein can have any physical shape or structure.

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram view of an illustrativecomposite structural article 10 including both tension 30 and impactmembers 40. FIG. 2 is a top schematic diagram perspective view of anillustrative composite structural article 10 including impact members40. FIG. 3 is a bottom schematic diagram perspective view of anillustrative composite structural article 10 including tension members30.

The composite structural article 10 includes a polymeric body 20 havinga first major surface 22 and an opposing second major surface 24. Inmany embodiments the first major surface 22 and an opposing second majorsurface 24 are planar and parallel to each other. In many embodiments aplurality of fibers form a fiber dispersion within the polymeric body20. The fibers forming this fiber dispersion have an average length ofless than 15 mm and an average diameter of less than 50 micrometers.

FIG. 1 illustrates an composite structural article 10 that includes acontinuous fiber element (i.e., tension member) 30 extending along alength of the second major surface 24 and an open mesh woven element(i.e., impact member) 40 adjacent to and coplanar with the opposingfirst major surface 22. The continuous fiber element 30 includes aplurality of parallel and co-extending extending continuous fibers and aresin. FIG. 1 illustrates four continuous fiber elements 30 projectionout of the page and one continuous fiber element 30 extending orthogonalto the four continuous fiber elements 30. It is understood that thecomposite structural article 10 can include any number of individualcontinuous fiber elements 30 parallel and/or orthogonal to each other.

FIG. 2 is a top schematic diagram perspective view of an illustrativecomposite structural article 10 including impact members 40. While theopen mesh woven element 40 is illustrated as visible, it is understoodthat the open mesh woven element 40 is preferably embedded within thepolymeric body 20 so that it would not necessarily be visible. In manyembodiments the open mesh woven element 40 is embedded within andcoplanar with the first major surface 22. In other embodiments the openmesh woven element 40 is embedded within and coplanar with the opposingsecond major surface 24.

Preferably the embedding surface is a textured surface. The term“textured” refers to a surface having uniform or non-uniform undulatingsurface or peaks and valleys along the surface having a lateral heightdifference equal to at least the diameter of the fiber bundles formingthe open mesh woven element 40. In many embodiments the textured surfacehas uniform or non-uniform undulating or peaks and valleys having alateral height difference equal to at two times or greater the diameterof the fiber bundles forming the open mesh woven element 40.

FIG. 3 is a bottom schematic diagram perspective view of an illustrativecomposite structural article 10 including tension members 30. Thepolymeric body 20 includes an elongated rib element 26 extending alongand away from the first major surface 22 and an opposing second majorsurface 24. The continuous fiber element 30 is co-extensive with andembedded within the rib member 26. In many embodiments the continuousfiber element 30 is co-extensive with and embedded within a distal endportion (away from the opposing surfaces) rib element 26. While thecontinuous fiber element 30 is illustrated as visible, it is understoodthat the continuous fiber element 30 is preferably embedded within thepolymeric body 20 or rib element 26 so that it would not necessarily bevisible.

FIG. 3 illustrates an embodiment that includes a plurality of parallelextending continuous fiber elements 30. This figure illustrates acomposite structural article 10 that includes a set of a first fiveparallel rib elements 26 and a second set of five parallel rib elements26 that are orthogonal to each other. In some embodiments, the compositestructural article 10 includes a plurality of parallel and orthogonalindependent continuous fiber elements 30. Preferably the compositestructural article 10 includes a fiber dispersion, as described below,within the polymeric body 20. The fiber dispersion can assist withreducing the warpage of composite structural articles 10 that includesthe continuous fiber elements 30, as described hererin.

FIG. 4 is a top schematic diagram view of an illustrative curvedcomposite structural article 100 including an impact member 40. FIG. 5is a front schematic diagram view of the illustrative curved compositestructural article 100 of FIG. 4. FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional schematicdiagram view of the illustrative curved composite structural article 100of FIG. 4 taken along line 6-6.

FIG. 4 is a top schematic diagram view of the illustrative curvedcomposite structural article 100 illustrating the embedded open meshwoven element 40 being co-extensive with the first major surface 22 ofthe polymeric body 20. The opposing second major surface 24 generallycurves also. FIG. 5 is a front schematic diagram view of theillustrative curved composite structural article 100, while the openmesh woven element 40 is illustrated as visible, it is understood thatthe open mesh woven element 40 is preferably embedded within thepolymeric body 20 (as illustrated in FIG. 4, so that it would notnecessarily be visible. Preferably the embedding surface is textured asdescribed above.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of a container 200 formed of compositestructural articles 210 including both tension 30 and impact members 40.The container 200 is formed of at least four composite structuralarticles 210. Each composite structural article 210, or side of thecontainer 200, includes continuous fiber elements 30 extending along alength of ribs 26 on the second major surface 24 and an open mesh wovenelement 40 embedded in and coplanar with the opposing first majorsurface 22. The continuous fiber element 30 includes a plurality ofparallel and co-extending continuous fibers and a resin.

In this embodiment, the first major surface 22 is planar and the secondmajor surface 24 includes a plurality of intersecting rib elements 26that extend away from the second major surface 24. A first plurality ofparallel rib 26 elements extend along a length of the panel member and asecond plurality of parallel rib elements 26 extend along a width of thepanel members. The first plurality of rib elements 26 intersect and areorthogonal to the second plurality of rib elements 26. The continuousfiber member is located within or embedded within one or more or all ofthe rib elements 26, as described above. The panel member 210 caninclude one or more open mesh woven element 40 disposed within the panelmember 210 and on or between the first major surface 22 and an opposingsecond major surface 24, as described above.

The solid or polymeric body can be formed of any suitable polymericmaterial. In many embodiments the polymeric material is a thermoplasticmaterial. Useful polymeric material includes polypropylene,polyethylene, nylon, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, styreneacrylonitrile, acrylic or styrene, for example. Further useful polymersinclude PBT polyester, PET polyester, polyoxymethylene, polycarbonite orpolyphenylene sulfide for example. Higher temperature polymeric materialincludes polysulfone, polyethersulfone, polyethereetherketone, or liquidcrystal polymer, for example.

The polymeric material can include a plurality of random fibers forminga fiber dispersion in the polymeric material. This fiber dispersion hasan average fiber length of less than 15 mm or less than 12 mm or lessthan 5 mm or less than 1 mm. The fiber dispersion has an average fiberlength in a range from 1 to 15 mm or in a range from 5 to 12 mm and canbe termed “long fiber thermoplastic”. In other embodiments, the fiberdispersion has an average fiber length in a range from 0.1 to 1 mm or ina range from 0.25 to 0.75 mm and can be termed “short fiberthermoplastic”. The fibers forming this fiber dispersion can be formedof materials that are the same or different than the material formingthe continuous fiber members such as glass, carbon, basalt, graphite,DuPont Kevlar brand aramid fibers, ceramics, natural fibers, polymericfibers, and various metals, for example.

The fiber dispersion can be present in the polymeric material in a rangefrom 5 to 60% by weight. Preferably the fiber dispersion can be presentin the polymeric material in a range from 10 to 50% by weight, or in arange from 20 to 45% by weight, or in a range from 30 to 40% by weight.Useful polymeric material with fiber dispersions are commerciallyavailable from RTP Company, Winona, Minnesota under the tradedesignations “RTP 107” (polypropylene with 40% wt short glass fiberdispersion) and “RTP 80107” (polypropylene with 40% wt long glass fiberdispersion), for example.

The continuous fiber members can be formed of any suitable fibermaterial providing tensile strength. A plurality of continuous fiberscan extend along a longitudinal axis in a parallel and co-extensivemanner as a continuous fiber element or bundle held together with aresin. The continuous fibers can be composed of: glass, carbon,graphite, DuPont Kevlar brand aramid fibers, ceramics, natural fibers,polymeric fibers, and various metals. Each continuous fiber element orbundle can have a diameter in a range from 250 to 5000 micrometers orfrom 500 to 4000 micrometers or from 1000 to 3000 micrometers. Eachcontinuous fiber element or bundle can have at least 40% wt fiber or atleast 50% wt fiber or from 40 to 90% wt fiber or from 50 to 80% wtfiber. Each continuous fiber element or bundle can have at from 60 to10% wt resin or from 50 to 30% wt resin.

In many embodiments the resin utilized to form the continuous fiberelement or bundle is compatible with, or is the same type or kind of,resin material forming the solid or polymeric body of the compositestructural element. This configuration will provide a strong bondbetween the continuous fiber element or bundle and the resin materialforming the solid or polymeric body of the composite structural element.

The continuous fibers can have any suitable diameter such as 5 to 100micrometers or less than 50 micrometers or from 10 to 50 micrometers orfrom for example 10 to 30 micrometers. The continuous fiber members orbundles are formed of a plurality of parallel and co-extendingcontinuous fibers. Preferably the continuous fiber members or bundlesare formed of at least 1000 individual and parallel and co-extendingcontinuous fibers or at least 2500 individual and parallel andco-extending continuous fibers or at least 5000 individual and paralleland co-extending continuous fibers or at least 7500 individual andparallel and co-extending continuous fibers. The plurality of paralleland co-extending continuous fibers are disposed within a resin to formthe continuous fiber element or bundle, as described above.

The continuous fiber can have any suitable length and is typically atleast as long as the desired area of reinforcement such as the length ofa rib member described below. In many embodiments the continuous fiberextends continuously along a majority of the first or second opposingsurfaces. In many embodiments the continuous fiber has a length of atleast 0.1 meter, or 0.5 meter or 1 meter or greater than 1 meter.Testing has confirmed that just the addition of the continuous fiberelement or bundle, described above, can improve the structural orflexural or tensile strength of the composite article by at least two tothree times over articles without the continuous fiber element orbundle.

The open mesh woven element or fiber mesh can be formed of any suitablefiber material providing tensile strength in two orthogonal directionsand impact resistance. The open mesh woven element or fiber mesh can beformed of a plurality of first parallel fibers extending in a firstdirection in a plane and a plurality of second parallel fibers extendingin a second direction (orthogonal to the first direction) in the plane.The first plurality and second plurality of fibers can be composed of:glass, basalt, carbon, graphite, DuPont Kevlar brand aramid fibers,ceramics, natural fibers, polymeric fibers, and various metals.

The fiber mesh can have any useful void size separating the intersectingfibers. In preferred embodiments the openings are in a range from about⅛ inch to about ½ inch square or in mesh size of about 8 to about 2 meshor from about 4 to about 5 mesh (openings per inch). In many embodimentsthe opening have an average lateral distance of at least 1 mm or atleast 2 mm or at least 5 mm. The fiber mesh can have any useful weight.In many embodiments the fiber mesh has a weight in a range from 2 to 20oz/yd² or from 2 to 10 oz/yd² or from 3 to 6 oz/yd².

The open mesh woven element or fiber mesh can include a resin or otherchemical coating to promote adhesion of the open mesh woven element tothe resin material forming the solid or polymeric body of the compositestructural element. In some embodiments the open mesh woven element orfiber mesh can includes a resin coating on the open mesh woven elementthat is the same material or compatible with the resin material formingthe solid or polymeric body of the composite structural element. Inother embodiments the open mesh woven element or fiber mesh can includesa resin coating on the open mesh woven element that is not the samematerial or is not compatible with the resin material forming the solidor polymeric body of the composite structural element. This“non-compatible” resin configuration surprising provides a resilientcomposite structural element.

The open mesh woven element or fiber mesh can include a continuous fibermaterial as described above for the continuous fiber members or bundles.While some of these open mesh woven elements include a resin coating,many embodiments include no resin or are resin free. Useful open meshwoven elements or fiber meshes are commercially available fromSaint-Gobain Adfors, France, under the trade designation “FibaTape”.

The composite structural article can be formed by any suitable method.In many embodiments the continuous fiber members and the fiber meshelements can be placed in a suitable mold and the polymeric materialdisposed into the mold to form the composite structural article.Preferably the composite structural articles are formed by inserting thecontinuous fiber members and the fiber mesh elements in a mold andpolymer material is compression molded or injection molded about thecontinuous fiber members and the fiber mesh elements.

Since the composite structural article described herein resists warping,the composite structural article can be formed quickly and withoutcumbersome or capital intensive cooling equipment that is normallyemployed to inhibit warping of the composite structural article. It hasbeen discovered that selective placement of the continuous fiber membersand the fiber mesh elements surprising inhibits warping of the compositestructural article.

The open mesh woven element and/or continuous fiber element or bundledescribed herein can be utilized in structural composite articles for avariety of industries, markets and applications. The composite articlesdescribed herein are particularly useful for: automotive parts such asbumpers, fenders; transportation such as pallets and containers;aerospace such as airplane components; military such as missilecomponents; recreation such as vehicle frame components.

EXAMPLES

All parts, percentages, ratios, etc. in the examples are by weight,unless noted otherwise.

Example 1 Composite Member with Tension Member

A composite member was formed having opposing first and second planarsurfaces and a rib element extending from the second surface. Thecomposite member was formed from polypropylene and 40% wt long fiberdispersion (RTP 80107 from RTP Company). The fiber dispersion had anaverage length of about 12 mm and an average diameter of about 20micrometers. A tension member was embedded within and along the entirelength of the composite member rib. The tension member was a continuousfiber bundle or element formed of several thousand parallel andco-extending glass fibers and held together with polypropylene resin.The continuous fiber bundle was 60% wt glass fibers. The continuousfiber bundle had a diameter of about 0.1 inch or about 2500 micrometers.The composite member weighed 11.7 grams.

A comparison member was formed with polypropylene and 40% wt long fiberdispersion (RTP 80107 from RTP Company) without the tension member(continuous fiber bundle or element) in the rib element or within themember. The comparison member weighed 11.6 grams.

Results

Flexural strength testing (Three Point Flex test on 4.5″ span) wasperformed on both the composite member of Example 1 and the comparisonmember of Example 1. The comparison member had a tensile strength ofabout 5,000 psi. The composite member had a tensile strength of about300,000 psi.

Yield force testing was performed on both the composite member ofExample 1 and the comparison member of Example 1. The comparison memberhad a yield force of about 138 lbs. The composite member had a yieldforce of about 262 lbs.

Example 2 Composite Member With Impact Member

The composite member was formed by injection molding polypropylene and40% wt long fiber dispersion (RTP 80107 from RTP Company) into a 4 inchdiameter mold along with an open mesh woven element. The fiberdispersion had an average length of about 12 mm and an average diameterof about 20 micrometers. The impact member was an open mesh wovenelement having 2 oz/yd² glass fiber mesh with 8 fiber bundles per inch(Saint-Gobain Adfors, France).

A comparison member was formed with polypropylene and 40% wt long fiberdispersion (RTP 80107 from RTP Company) without the impact member (openmesh woven element).

Results

Impact strength testing (Instrumented Dynatup test) was performed onboth the composite member of Example 2 and the comparison member ofExample 2. The composite member with stood two to three times the impactforce before break as compared to the comparison member of Example 2.

Further samples using different weights of open mesh woven elements wereformed and tested for failure. The polymer resin was a polypropyleneco-polymer resin without the fiber dispersion. Results of the testingare reported below in Table 1.

TABLE 1 Impact Member Impact Test (ft-lbs to failure) None 155 1.8oz/yd²  212  2 oz/yd² 285 4.5 oz/yd²  339 12 oz/yd² Did not break at 37015 oz/yd² Did not break at 370 20 oz/yd² Did not break at 370

Example 3 Composite Member With Tension Member and Impact Member

A mold was utilized as illustrated in FIG. 1-3. Dimensions of the moldwere 8 in wide by 18 in long by 1 in thick. Five ribs ran parallel tothe width and five ribs ran parallel to the length. The width ribs wereorthogonal to the length ribs.

Composite articles (with the tension members) were formed usingpolypropylene and either 40% wt long fiber dispersion (RTP 80107 fromRTP Company) or 30% wt long fiber dispersion (RTP 80105 from RTPCompany) or 20% wt long fiber dispersion (RTP 80103 from RTP Company).One tension member (as described in Example 1) is embedded within eachrib element. Comparative examples did not include the tension member.

Results

The following Table 2 reports the results of flexural testing (ThreePoint Flex test on 15″ span).

TABLE 2 Flexural Test Material Description (pounds to failure) RTP 8010740% fiber 686 RTP 80107 40% fiber + tension member 1395 RTP 80107 30%fiber 620 RTP 80107 30% fiber + tension member 1276 RTP 80107 20% fiber554 RTP 80107 20% fiber + tension member 1158

The above results illustrate that the continuous fiber bundle or tensionmember increased the flexural strength of the composite member by two tothree times without adding weight to the composite member.

Next, composite articles (with tension members and impact members) wereformed using polypropylene and either 40% wt long fiber dispersion (RTP80107 from RTP Company) or 20% wt long fiber dispersion (RTP 80103 fromRTP Company). One tension member (as described in Example 1) is embeddedwithin each rib element. The impact member (4.5 oz/yd glass fiber meshat 4 mesh—FibaTape from Saint-Gobain Adfors, France) was embedded withinthe planar surface of the as illustrated in FIG. 1. Comparative examplesdid not include the tension member.

Results

The following Table 3 reports the results of impact testing (fallingdart).

TABLE 3 Impact Test Material Description (ft-lbs to failure) RTP 8010740% fiber 37 RTP 80107 40% fiber + tension member 48 RTP 80107 40%fiber + tension member + impact 53 member RTP 80107 20% fiber 32 RTP80107 20% fiber + tension member 37 RTP 80107 20% fiber + tensionmember + impact 42 member

The above results illustrate that the continuous fiber bundle or tensionmember increased the impact strength of the composite member and theaddition of the impact member further increased the impact strength ofthe composite member.

Thus, embodiments of COMPOSITE STRUCTURAL ARTICLE are disclosed.

All references and publications cited herein are expressly incorporatedherein by reference in their entirety into this disclosure, except tothe extent they may directly contradict this disclosure. Althoughspecific embodiments have been illustrated and described herein, it willbe appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety ofalternate and/or equivalent implementations can be substituted for thespecific embodiments shown and described without departing from thescope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to coverany adaptations or variations of the specific embodiments discussedherein. Therefore, it is intended that this disclosure be limited onlyby the claims and the equivalents thereof. The disclosed embodiments arepresented for purposes of illustration and not limitation.

What is claimed is:
 1. A composite structural article comprising: apolymeric body having a first major surface and an opposing second majorsurface; a plurality of fibers forming a fiber dispersion within thepolymeric body, the fibers having an average length of less than 15 mmand an average diameter of less than 50 micrometers; a laterallyextending rib element extending away from the second major surface andhaving a lateral length and forming a portion of the polymeric body; anda continuous fiber bundle extending along and embedded within thelateral length of the rib element the continuous fiber bundle comprisingat least 1000 parallel and co-extending continuous fibers and a resin,the continuous fiber bundle having a diameter in a range from 250micrometers to 5000 micrometers.
 2. The composite structural articleaccording to claim 1, comprising a plurality of parallel extending ribelements, at least selected rib elements comprise a continuous fiberbundle extending along the lateral length of the selected rib elements.3. The composite structural article according to claim 1, wherein thefiber dispersion has an average length of less than 1 mm.
 4. Thecomposite structural article according to claim 1, wherein the polymericbody comprises 10% to 50% by weight fiber dispersion.
 5. The compositestructural article according to claim 1, wherein the continuous fiberbundle comprises at least 5000 parallel and co-extending continuousfibers.
 6. The composite structural article according to claim 1,wherein the polymeric body comprises polypropylene, polyethylene, nylon,acrylonitrile butadiene styrene, styrene acrylonitrile, acrylic orstyrene.
 7. The composite structural article according to claim 1,wherein the polymeric body comprises PBT polyester, PET polyester,polyoxymethylene, polycarbonate, polyphenylene sulfide, polysulfone,polyethersulfone, polyethereetherketone, or liquid crystal polymer. 8.The composite structural article according to claim 1, wherein thecontinuous fiber bundle comprises from 50 to 30% wt resin.
 9. Thecomposite structural article according to claim 1, wherein thecontinuous fiber bundle is located at a distal end portion of the ribelement member.
 10. The composite structural article according to claim1, wherein the polymeric body comprises an open mesh woven elementembedded within and coplanar with the first major surface or theopposing second major surface.
 11. The composite structural articleaccording to claim 10, wherein the open mesh woven element is adjacentto and coplanar with the second major surface and the second majorsurface comprises a textured surface.
 12. A composite structural articlecomprising: a polymeric body having a first major surface and anopposing second major surface and the second major surface is a texturedsurface; and an open mesh woven element is embedded within and coplanarthe textured surface, wherein the open mesh woven element comprises aplurality of parallel and orthogonal fiber elements defining voidshaving an average lateral distance of at least 1 mm or at least 2 mm andthe polymeric body is disposed within the voids.
 13. The compositestructural article according to claims 12, further comprising aplurality of fibers forming a fiber dispersion within the polymericbody, the fibers having an average length of less than 15 mm and anaverage diameter of less than 50 micrometers
 14. The compositestructural article according to claims 13 wherein the fiber dispersionhas an average length of less than 1 mm.
 15. The composite structuralarticle according to claim 13, wherein the polymeric body comprises 10%to 50% by weight fiber dispersion.
 16. The composite structural articleaccording to claim 12, wherein the polymeric body comprisespolypropylene, polyethylene, nylon, acrylonitrile butadiene styrene,styrene acrylonitrile, acrylic or styrene.
 17. The composite structuralarticle according to claim 12, wherein the polymeric body comprises PBTpolyester, PET polyester, polyoxymethylene, polycarbonite orpolyphenylene sulfide.
 18. The composite structural article according toclaim 12, wherein the polymeric body comprises polysulfone,polyethersulfone, polyethereetherketone, or liquid crystal polymer. 19.The composite structural article according to claim 12, furthercomprising a laterally extending rib element extending away from thefirst or second major surface and having a lateral length and forming aportion of the polymeric body, and a continuous fiber bundle extendingalong the lateral length of the rib element the continuous fiber elementcomprising a plurality of parallel and co-extending continuous fibersand a resin, wherein the continuous fiber bundle comprises from 50 to30% wt resin.
 20. Forming a composite structural article according toclaim 1 by injection molding or compression molding the continuous fiberbundle into the laterally extending rib element.